Balenciaga Fires Model Casting Agency After Abuse Allegations

Yesterday, U.S. casting director James Scully got the fashion industry talking when he posted an eye-opening account of models' experience behind-the-scenes at Paris Fashion Week.

Scully alleged that during a casting for the Balenciaga show at Paris Fashion Week, models were faced with unsafe, cruel working conditions and abused by an agency. In his caption, Scully wrote, "I was very disturbed to hear from a number of girls this morning that yesterday at the Balenciaga casting Madia & Ramy (serial abusers) held a casting in which they made over 150 girls wait in a stairwell told them they would have to stay over 3 hours to be seen and not to leave. In their usual fashion they shut the door went to lunch and turned off the lights, to the stairs leaving every girl with only the lights of their phones to see. Not only was this sadistic and cruel it was dangerous and left more than a few of the girls I spoke with traumatized."

A post shared by james scully (@jamespscully) on Feb 27, 2017 at 10:40am PST

He added that after the experience, many of the models asked to cancel their options for walking Balenciaga, Hermes and Elie Saab (who all use the same casting agency) because "they refuse to be treated like animals."

As if those allegations weren't disturbing enough, Scully also added that, "several agents, some of whom are black that they have received mandate from Lanvin that they do not want to be presented with women of color. And another big house is trying to sneak 15 year olds into Paris!" (Brands are discouraged from hiring models under the age of 18 years old for the runway.)

Less than 24 hours after Scully's eye-opening post, Balenciaga responded swiftly by firing their casting agency, releasing a statement and issuing an apology to models:

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"On Sunday, February 26th Balenciaga took notice of issues with the model castings carried out on that day. The house reacted immediately, making radical changes to the casting process, including discontinuing the relationship with the current casting agency. Additionally, Balenciaga sent a written apology to the agencies of the models who were affected by this specific situation, asking them to share it with them. Balenciaga condemns this incident and will continue to be deeply committed to ensure the most respectful working conditions for the models."

The fashion house's quick action is a small step in the right direction for the modeling industry. As for Lanvin, who was accused of turning away models of color, the fashion house vehemently denied Scully's claims. According to WWD, the brand's spokeswoman Sophie Boilley said in a statement, "These allegations are completely false and baseless."

Update:

After James Scully's model abuse allegations led to Balenciaga firing its casting directors, one of the accused, Maida Gregori Boina, released a statement to Business of Fashion:

"To directly address these accusations, the models did not wait for three hours in the dark, not even one hour. We personally ate our lunch in the casting facility and—without question—we did not lock the models in the stairwell and turn out the lights. That would be completely inhumane. Throughout the entire process, we provided the most comfortable accommodations allowable based on the facilities provided...We applaud Balenciaga's quick action to issue a statement to the press. At the same time, we are saddened to be released from the casting without a discussion of what actually took place. We are also very concerned that James, as a casting director himself, has intentionally misrepresented the facts for personal career gain without substantiating the story."

Rami Fernandes, who was also fired from Balenciaga, has not publicly commented on the allegations at the time. Read Boina's full statement to BoF here.

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